


The Stamping Ground

by TheDogPotato



Series: Bear in mind: I love you [2]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Dogs, F/M, Family Dinner, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 05:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11639745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDogPotato/pseuds/TheDogPotato
Summary: Emerson, Joe, Erica and Finlay are invited to dinner at Emerson and Erica’s parents’ house.Note: It's possible to read every part of this series as a standalone fic :)





	The Stamping Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically a continuation of “Now that you know”, but it isn’t required reading before reading this.

A light drizzle fell from the sky, battling to stay on the ground that had been heated in the rare summer sun that still shone through the grey cover of clouds.

Emerson and Joe were walking side by side, Joe holding an umbrella in one hand and Emerson’s hand in the other. The umbrella only offered Joe cover, but it wasn’t for lack of trying to shield Emerson as well. Emerson had appreciated the gesture, but had told him that honestly, he appreciated the freshness of the summer rain.

They’d been in and out of the interview room for the past couple of days and Emerson had felt like he’d been working in an oven. Finlay had brought in desk fans for the incident room, but sadly they were too noisy for the interview recordings, and Miles had mysteriously had a lot of very important things to do in the incident room, leaving Emerson to fill in for him and do the interviews together with Joe. He’d seemed to take it all in stride, while Emerson had cursed his hot suit and the fact that he sweated so much that he could feel his shirt clinging to him, so the cool rain and a bit of fresh air was a welcome change. Besides, he’d always thought umbrellas were more of a hassle than they were worth.

“At least we didn’t plan to have dinner outside,” Emerson smiled, but when he looked up at Joe he found that he didn’t share the expression. “What’s wrong?”

Joe was about to gesture with the hand that was linked with Emerson’s, but stopped awkwardly when he realized he was moving Emerson’s hand as well. Emerson gave it a quick squeeze before letting go, leaving Joe’s hand free to gesticulate at will.

“It’s just, this feels very important to get right,” Joe said. Emerson could tell there was genuine worry in his voice, but he couldn’t help but laugh.

“ _Finlay_ is going to be there. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Hell, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about regardless. You don’t have to prove yourself to my parents,” Emerson said as they turned the corner, their destination being only a few houses away.

“But you have such a close relationship with them.”

“Yeah, one that I’ve established through over 30 years of knowing them. You are only meeting them for the first time tonight, I really don’t expect more than polite conversation,” he stopped outside the door, and turned to look at Joe before knocking. “Are you okay to go in?”

Joe still didn’t look completely at ease, but he nodded and Emerson tapped lightly on the door. It didn’t take more than that, as soon dog barking could be heard from the other side alerting the entire house to their presence.

When the door opened, Emerson didn’t have the time to greet whoever it was that opened it as an excited Samoyed dog pushed itself through the door opening as soon as there was room enough for it to get its head through.

“Oh hiii, Bear!” Emerson greeted the dog who was circling around itself to be pet on all the places at once. “I’ve missed you, buddy,” he continued in a higher pitch than Joe had ever heard him speak before.

Emerson quickly ushered the dog back inside and turned his attention towards his mum who watched it with a smile on her face. He gave her a quick hug before stepping back for her to greet Joe.

She had a great resemblance to both of the twins, only her hair was greying. She smiled just as brightly at him as she had at Emerson and went in for a hug. Joe found it a bit awkward that she hugged him so fully when they’d only just met, but he accepted it.

“Oh it’s nice to finally meet you, Joe. I’m Allison.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Joe said returning her smile.

“Eyy, who would have thought the two most punctual policemen would be late to a family event?” Finlay hollered as he entered the hallway. Erica walked in behind him.

“You wouldn’t even be here this early if it wasn’t for me. Besides, they’re not late. The food isn’t even ready yet,” she said as a comment on how he didn’t have to sound so triumphant.

“Evening Em, evening, sir,” Finlay greeted.

“Good evening,” Joe said as Emerson rolled his eyes at Finlay using his nickname, “and nice to meet you again, Erica.”

Emerson’s dad entered the now cramped hallway, which Finlay and Erica took as their cue to head into the living room again. The Samoyed dog was pushing at Emerson’s hand to get his attention again, and he absentmindedly petted it on the head as he greeted his dad with a smile.

“Hello Emerson,” his dad said which rang a bit too formal in Emerson’s ears. He walked up to Joe with his back straightened, like a dog approaching another dog with its tail in the air. “Joe,” was all he said as he nodded a single time.

“Good evening, Mr. Kent,” Joe said trying to sound polite in response to the cold greeting.

“You can just call him Errol,” Allison said.

No one responded to it, and Emerson felt compelled to fill in the silence. He slowly grabbed Joe’s hand and intertwined their fingers, and laughed awkwardly as he said: “I’ve always been quite proud of being the tallest one in the Kent family, but I guess I’m not anymore,” he continued the awkward laugh until he realized that Joe might be intimidated by the fact that he’d basically just said he was part of the family, but a glance up at Joe put him at ease. He looked a bit confused but it was definitely positive confusion. A tentative smile and a small squeeze of Emerson’s hand told him not to worry at all.

“We better return to the kitchen, Errol. Those mushrooms aren’t gonna bread themselves,” Allison said still a smile on her face, though she pushed him out of the hallway. The Samoyed followed them out of the room, no longer in its ecstatic “I haven’t seen you in forever”-mode.  

Emerson and Joe stayed for a while longer. After a moment, Joe cleared his throat.

“Um, Emerson?”

Emerson send him an apologetic smile, the apology on his lips before Joe had even said anything.

“I’m sorry he was like that. I promise you I would have given you a warning if I had known.”

“Oh no, please don’t apologize on his behalf. I was just wondering. Do you know why?” Joe said, as he stroked his fingers across the back of Emerson’s hand.

Emerson let out a frustrated sigh. “I think it’s because you’re my boss, and he thinks you’re taking advantage of me somehow, as if this isn’t something I’ve hoped for, as if you would ever do that!”

“Well he doesn’t know me. I understand his concerns to a degree.”

“Don’t make excuses for him. I’ll talk to him later and let him know that it’s not okay for him to act like that. Urgh, and it’s not gonna help if Finlay keeps referring to you as “sir” throughout the evening. I’m gonna tell him that,” Emerson scowled. He hoped Finlay would be able to do that. At first he himself had been a mess at switching from “sir” to “Joe” when they weren’t at work, but he’d quickly learned to code switch. This was something he was thankful for now, as he’d rather not end up calling Joe “sir” in front of his dad.

“Shall we?” he gestured towards the living room, when there’d been another pause. Joe nodded and let Emerson lead the way.

When they entered the living room, they saw Erica and Finlay standing next to a shelf full of framed photos. Emerson feared what they were looking at, when Finlay turned around to look at him, a huge grin on his face.

“Erica’s just showing off some of your memories, mate. You look a bit frightened on this one,” he gestured towards one of the pictures.

Emerson furrowed his brow as he moved closer, not sure what Finlay was talking about. It was a family picture from when he was six. Erica, his dad and he were all standing in a park, a big newfoundland puppy at their feet, only Emerson was too busy looking at the puppy, a nervous expression on his face, to look into the camera.

“Well puppies like to bite, and I was six!” Emerson defended himself. His parents had had a dog before he and Erica were born, but afterwards they’d had their hands full and so waited to get a dog again. Emerson had been the one who begged the most for a dog, and then he’d been scared of it during the entire puppy playful biting period. He did end up loving the dog though, and was very proud that it ended up liking sleeping in his room more than in his sister’s. She had been less happy with that development.

“So was I!” Erica laughed.

“It’s ironic that you were once afraid of a puppy when you are such a puppy dog yourself,” Finlay grinned, and Emerson gave him a playful shove.

“I did love her though,” he told Joe. “Aw, I miss having a dog,” he added thoughtfully a while after, but then he thought of how messy she’d been and added: “Though if I were to get one in the future it probably shouldn’t be a newfie again. Maybe someone like Bear instead.” He turned towards the Samoyed who was lying on a dog bed on the floor. At the attention, she wagged her tail a couple of times.

“So his name is Bear?” Joe asked.

“Well no, but it’s one of those nicknames that just stuck, cause we compared her to a polar bear, and now that’s almost become her official name. She’s really called Zephyr.”

“Or do you call her Bear, cause she’s a big scary animal?” Finlay sniggered.

 “It’s not like you have anything to say, Mr. I-ate-fishfood-cause-I-thought-it-would-make-me-swim-faster,” Erica said.

“Hey, I told you that in confidentiality,” Finlay said.

“And now the truth is out,” Erica stated simply. There was a pause, where Erica and Finlay looked towards Emerson as if he was about to tell an anecdote about Joe’s childhood, and he actually had one to tell. Joe had told him that he used to think that the turn signals in cars could read your mind as they always knew what way the car was going, but Emerson wasn’t gonna share that, cause he realized that nothing had been told about Erica yet.

“Well if we’re talking about our childhood fails, I would like to tell everybody here about the time you felt like your bookcase needed a new coat of paint, only you used your nail polish to do it. The evidence is still there in her old room behind a poster,” Emerson grinned.

“I see you’ve always been artistic,” Joe said. Emerson caught the momentary glare Erica sent him, before she realized that this comment, coming from Joe rather than from Emerson or Finlay, was completely sincere.

She smiled and said: “See, someone gets it!”

Finlay and Emerson shared a look that meant that they still thought it was a ridiculous thing to do.

They turned their attention towards the pictures again. Erica pointed to one of a 10-year old Emerson with wild hair, and another one of teenage Emerson with a guitar, his hair longer than Joe had ever seen it.

“That’s some good hair, bro,” she said.

“I like how you’re pointing this out, as if I’ve got good hair now and this will somehow embarrass me,” Emerson said.

“Emerson!” Joe said in a disapproving voice, his hand finding the curls at the nape of Emerson’s neck.

Emerson smiled and bowed his head a bit. “Well it is wild though!”

“Wow, when is the honeymoon phase going to be over?” Finlay asked, and Emerson was just about to bite back that maybe it would once they’d had their honeymoon but he’d already made the comment about Joe being part of the family, so he didn’t find it fair to put more pressure on him by bringing up the idea of marriage, since they were still relatively early in their relationship. He was caught off guard when the hand that had rested on his neck suddenly grasped his hair, and Joe went in for a kiss.

Joe thought he would have been more uncomfortable kissing Emerson when they were in his parents’ home, but given that his parents weren’t there at that point, he didn’t mind all that much. They’d kissed in front of Erica and Finlay before once when they went to a pub after work and Joe had almost felt like he’d lost a dare when their constant nagging at the end of the evening had spurred a drunken Emerson into kissing him. He’d have liked to stay above it, but once Emerson was kissing him there was nothing he could do, cause perish the thought that he stopped the kiss and made it seem like he was rejecting Emerson and not the childishness of the whole situation itself.

In this case, the kiss did the trick, as it made Finlay speechless for once, which was something Joe felt quite proud of.  

Erica laughed at his speechlessness too, but continued as if nothing had happened.

“You did try to tame it a couple of years ago though.”

“Oh no, don’t remind me. That was too much of a hassle,” Emerson said, leaving out the part where he just didn’t want to talk about that part of his life as it had been around the Kray case.

Joe, who was still standing next to Kent, leant in a bit closer to discreetly ask where the bathroom was.

“It’s the first door on the left as you enter the house,” Kent nodded in the direction.

As Joe left the room, Kent headed for the sofa whistling for Bear to come join him, but the only reaction he got from her were a couple of thumps as her tail hit the dog bed.

“Come on girl!” he called sweetly. She lifted her head and looked interestedly at him and in response he called her even more eagerly, but she still didn’t move from her spot, and as he kept calling, but did nothing else, the dog soon lost interest and laid her head down on her front paws again.

“Aw stubborn dog,” Emerson sighed as he leant over the armrest to grab a dog biscuit from a jar on the sofa table. “Come here, Bear!” he called again, this time with instant results, as the sound of the lid being taken off the jar had gotten her attention immediately. She wooshed up to him her nose wiggling as she searched for the treat that was now hidden in Emerson’s palm. He showed it to her but patted on the couch next to himself at the same time. Bear jumped up next to him and proceeded to crawl across his lap as the dog treat holding hand was on the other side. Emerson finally gave the treat to her while she was still lying across his lap, and hugged her as she munched on the treat. He burrowed his head in the thick soft fur as he continued to pet the dog without a care for the dog hair that was clinging to his clothes.

When Joe came back from the bathroom he gave a surprised raise of the eyebrows. Emerson smiled at him, but looked at Bear directing his speech at her.

“I thought you knew you were too big to be a lap dog.”

Soon after, Emerson’s parents brought in the appetizer, and the guests headed for the table, except for Emerson who grinned at his mum as she sent him a look.

“I’m sorry, but I won’t be able to join you. I’ve been trapped by a bear.”

“Ha, that’ll only last a second. She won’t stick around when she notices there’s food on the table,” Allison said.

“What? This loyal pupper?” Emerson asked, but he almost hadn’t finished the sentence before the dog eagerly jumped down from the couch and headed for the table to beg.

“Traitor!” Emerson called after her, as he got up to join the others at the table.

Emerson sat down next to Joe and across from Finlay. He had a slight suspicion that Joe had chosen to sit as far from Finlay as possible thinking of the time he dropped food on him during his birthday party, as he had noticed how he’d taken a moment longer to sit down than the couple on other side of the table.

After telling everyone to dig in, Allison looked from Finlay to Joe and said:

“I would ask you both what your jobs are but…” she made a vague gesture with her fork. At the mention of their job, Emerson sneaked a glance at his dad who was stonefaced and silent.

Erica on the other hand sighed audibly. “Oh yeah it’s not hard to notice they’re all in the same line of work.”

“They? Am I included in that pronoun?” Finlay asked in surprise.

“You might believe yourself to be all relaxed once the job is over, but trust me, even you have that passive observantness about you, though I will give you that you are better at letting loose,” she said with a pointed glare at Emerson.

Ignoring her children who looked like they might start making faces at each other at any moment, Allison turned to Joe to ask him if he was always working in the same way that Emerson was.

Finlay snorted. “Where do you think he has it from?”

Chandler stared at him, and Finlay grinned. “Sorry sir”

A moment later he jumped in his seat and turned towards Emerson. “Ow, what’d you do that for?”

“What?” Emerson replied confused.

“It wasn’t him,” Erica, who had kicked Finlay underneath the table, said.

“Then what’d _you_ do it for?” he asked, and she sent him a look that told him that he should know. Emerson realized that he hadn’t remembered to ask Finlay to stop saying “sir” for the evening, which meant that Erica had come to the same conclusion as he had regarding their dad’s attitude.

After a brief silence Joe picked up from where Finlay’s comment had derailed the conversation.

“It _is_ tough to leave the mindset behind when you’re not at work. You can’t completely turn it off.”

“Hmpf,” came Errol’s reply at Joe’s words. “Such as being the boss and barking out orders. Can you turn that off in your freetime?”

Emerson decided to tackle the thing head on then instead of waiting and letting it go any further. He noticed that everyone had finished eating, and stood up to gather the plates. Joe was about to follow his lead and do the same, but Emerson stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. 

“There’s no need. Anyway it’s a small kitchen. I’ll wash up while my dad takes care of the next meal.”

He knew it might as well have been his mum who would be preparing the next meal, so by saying that, he had let his dad know that he wanted to talk to him. He nodded as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

He was already busying himself at the stove when Emerson entered the kitchen, but as soon as Emerson opened his mouth to talk, he had turned towards him.

“I know how this must seem. I’m acting like a real jerk,” he said.

Emerson paused for a moment before going: “Yeah, yeah you are. You’ve never acted like this around any of my previous boyfriends before.”

“Well none of them have been your boss, now have they?” He said, seemingly very agitated.

“They haven’t, so yeah I drew the conclusion that that’s why you were like this. But he is, so that’s that. That should really be the end of this story.”

“I’m just worried about the power imbalance. That can’t be a good thing in a relationship. I don’t wanna see you hurt again, son.”

“Well that sometimes happens in a relationship, but I can guarantee you that there is a big difference between when we’re at work and when we’re at home if you’re so worried about that,” Emerson said. It felt like something that should be underlined with crossed arms, but that couldn’t very well be done when he had his arms full of plates.

“You heard him talking about how it’s hard to turn off his work mindset. He’s gonna use that power at some point.”

“That wasn’t what he was talking about! You don’t know him, and you never will if you keep up that attitude. Everyone here can read the situation and you are really making it much more uncomfortable than it should be, even if you think you are playing the protective dad role. He hasn’t done anything to warrant your attitude towards him!”

“He has hurt you before!” Errol reminded him.

“Cause of a misjudgment during a case!” Emerson raised his voice in exasperation, and was thankful that the dinner table wasn’t directly next to the kitchen door, cause he was sure his voice had been loud enough to carry through the door he had closed behind him. “I forgave him for that a long time ago, and so should you!”

Errol went silent. He turned towards the stove again, and though Emerson wasn’t gonna let the discussion go before he had his dad’s word that he wouldn’t keep acting so cold towards Joe, he finally began doing the washing up.

They worked next to each other in silence for a bit, until his dad sighed in a way that indicated he was about to speak.

“I’m sorry. I worry about you and these concerns won’t be washed away like that, but I realise that I’m not gonna change anything for the better by acting so unwelcome. I won’t from now on.”

Emerson smiled at that. His family had always been good at voicing their concerns and listening to each other, instead of bottling it up and letting it explode. He thought of one of the few times he had handled his concerns in the latter manner, and realized the similarities of him having worried about Erica getting hurt in her relationship and his dad worrying about his relationship. But just like Finlay had disproved his concerns as soon as Emerson had let him do so by not constantly sneering at the thought of it, he knew that Joe would disprove his dad’s concerns quickly now that he had promised to give him a chance.

Emerson helped his dad finish the food, trusting that Joe was well in the company in the living room. When he came back carrying bowls of potatoes and peas, Finlay was in the middle of a story that had his mum giggling, while Joe and Erica, having heard the story before, shared a knowing smile of what was to come.

His dad followed soon after.

“I hope you all enjoy wiener schnitzels” he said as he sat down, and even with that simple statement, Emerson could tell how much his mood had changed.

Emerson started offering food around the table.

 “Thanks, Em!” Mansell said as he accepted one of the bowls.

“You gonna keep on using that nickname?” Emerson asked, still not used to hearing it from Finlay.

“Yeah, you know I’m so used to being able to call on you with just one syllable. Em-er-son,” he said while counting the syllables on his hand, “is just too much of a hassle, you know?”

Kent was about to say something, when he got distracted by Bear putting her head in his lap.

“Aw Bear, I haven’t even gotten anything on my plate yet,” he told her.

“Just watch. Bear is gonna spend the whole meal next to Emerson or my mum. She knows they’re the ones who can’t resist her begging,” Erica told Finlay and Joe.

“Erica never gives her food at the table, so she’ll probably sit between you and mum, since your food giving ways are unknown to her yet which is better than sitting next to the one she knows she won’t get anything from,” Emerson told Joe. He turned towards Bear again to pet her. She drew her head back a bit, but accepted the pets reluctantly with a look that seemed to tell him: ‘I wanted food, not pets. This is not what I am here for!’

“You make it sound like it’s a principle I have, I just want to eat my food really, but it’s become kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy now that she almost never begs next to me anymore,” Erica explained further.

Exactly as Emerson had predicted, when a fair amount of time had passed where Bear hadn’t had any luck sitting next to him, she moved in between Allison and Joe to try her luck there.

“Do any of you have any pets?” Errol asked.

“Finlay used to have fish,” Emerson said with a grin. Finlay sent him a look but otherwise ignored him.

“Yeah I did. Don’t have any pets now. It doesn’t really fit with the job.”

“Yeah,” Emerson said almost in a sigh.

Joe had been about to say that pets weren’t really his cup of tea, but when he heard the wistful tone in Emerson’s response, he decided to agree with Finlay instead: “It can be a bit too hectic from time to time, yes.”

“That’s an understatement,” Emerson said.

“And how is it right now?” Errol asked.

“Well apart from the unbearable heat, it’s not been too bad lately,” Joe said with a small laugh, and Emerson glanced at him sideways. This was the first time he’d heard Joe complain about the heat. He’d almost convinced himself that he must have a superhuman resistance to the heat, but he’d apparently just been really good at hiding his discomfort, even from Emerson, but in retrospect Emerson’s lack of noticing might have come down to his own discomfort.

“Speaking of your work, and I’m sorry to bring this up, I don’t know if it’s a sore point and it’s a while ago too, but I’ve obviously not talked with you before and I just wanted to tell you this, but back during the first case you two did together, we saw the newspapers and how they were eager to call you a failure, but Emerson told us that you had stayed with Miles to make sure he was okay, and I just want to tell you how wrong we think it was of them to paint you like that!” Allison said and as she spoke, she seemed to get upset on Joe’s behalf.   

 “Oh,” Joe said in mild surprise, “thanks. It’s a long time ago, and a lot has happened since then, some good some bad, but you can say that if it wasn’t for that failure I would probably be an entirely different place right now.”

“Failure,” Finlay said with a smile as he made air quotes with his hands.

Joe looked like he was about to argue, but Finlay interrupted him before he got the chance:

“Don’t worry mate, we know you didn’t refer to you caring about lips skife as a failure.” He shook his head when he realised his slip of the tongue.

Joe decided to take this opportunity to change the subject: “Oh the switching of corresponding sounds in two words like that is called a spoonerism.”

“I love linguistic quirks like that,” Erica said. “I remember one time when we were kids, and we were playing pretend. We were battling something, but instead of saying he was gonna deal the monster a crushing blow, he said he was gonna deal the monster a blushing crow. The reason I remember that so well is cause I liked the imagery so much that I painted it. It might still be around here somewhere.”

Joe laughed, and Emerson shrugged. “I’m glad I could be of artistic inspiration. It’s a really sweet crow. If you can find it, I think it’s worth showing off.”

“Thanks, Em,” Erica said surprised at his sudden genuine compliment. He sent her a smile.

Looking around the table, Emerson saw that he was the only one who wasn’t finished eating, but he was full and so it was easy knowing what to do with the leftover couple of potatoes on his plate. He called on Bear who was by his side quick as lightning.

“Such a good girl. Sit!” Emerson said. Bear promptly obeyed and was rewarded with the first potato.

“Alright, now down. Down,” he had to repeat the command as Bear was excitedly begging, expecting that to be his next command. She then laid down, looking up at him expectantly. “Now roll over!”

“Just give her the potato, Em,” Erica said.

“Says the one who isn’t giving her any potatoes at all. Besides what’s wrong with me being proud of her and wanting to show off her skills?” Emerson said and he couldn’t help but look towards Joe and smile, as he saw Joe smile at the dog who had successfully rolled over. He then gave the dog the potato at last. She didn’t seem to blame him for the delay though and happily chowed down on the potato. Afterwards she expectantly sat down next to him again.

“Aw no, Bear. I don’t have anymore for you,” Emerson told the dog, though he knew it would take her a while to stop begging with or without him telling her that.

Allison sighed upon seeing how quickly everyone had finished eating, and said: “Why is it always like that? It takes forever to cook and then just like that it’s all gone. It seems like such an ungrateful job.”

“Except that it’s nice enjoying a good meal even if it doesn’t take that long to eat,” Errol said. “And now we have an excuse to find ourselves some more comfortable seats.” Errol got up and began to clear the table.

“Finlay and I can do that!” Erica said, while Finlay nodded.

 “Thanks, I’ll take my own advice and find that comfortable seat then,” Errol said and headed for an armchair.

Allison went into the kitchen too with a comment about popping the rhubarb crumble in the oven, while Emerson and Joe found seats in the sofa.

Bear trotted happily after Allison into the kitchen as the door was left ajar, and Emerson commented that he would come by real soon and give Bear a good walk.

“It’s not like I don’t appreciate you coming by and saving me from a couple of walks now and again, but I do hope, I just have to know, is everything truly okay?” his father asked openly concerned. It took Emerson a moment to realise that even though neither his mum or dad had to use their observational skills at their respective jobs, they still had them. It hadn’t escaped them that he often came by and took Bear for long walks whenever he was going through rough periods.

Emerson smiled. “Oh no, I just miss her. I’m happy to say that those kinds of walks will probably be few and far in between in the future.”

“Alright,” he said noticeably relieved. “Then I am sorry for asking.”

“It’s okay. I get why,” Emerson replied.

“I am glad to hear it. I also owe you, Joe, an apology for the cold welcome. I was acting stupidly to be honest,” Errol said.

“I’ve had colder welcomes,” Joe smiled, and Emerson suddenly felt relieved. He hadn’t realised how tense it had made him that they weren’t getting along. Joe had been right about him having a close relationship with his parents and even though his dad not liking Joe wouldn’t have affected his feelings for him, he was happy to see his dad apologising and Joe not holding any grudge.

Allison returned to the living room, and sat down in the sofa next to Emerson.

“The crumble should be finished in about half an hour,” she informed them.

“And we couldn’t have taken a bit of time in between the meals? I am very full,” Emerson said.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have put so much on your plate then,” Allison said in response.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t make such good food then,” Emerson said and gave both his mum and dad a look.

“That’s an odd way of giving a compliment,” Errol said with a smile.

“I can only be _so_ sincere at a given time,” Emerson said thinking of the blushing crow painting. It wasn’t long after that that Finlay and Erica returned. Finlay taking a chair from the table and placing it opposite the sofa, while Erica went looking for the painting. She returned empty-handed and sat down on the sofa’s armrest.

“I’ll have to show you the painting another time, sorry,” she said.

“Well I’ll keep a look out for it and tell you if it shows up,” Errol said.

“Thanks!”

They chatted until the crumble was ready and like Emerson had predicted, he was far too full to really enjoy it and mostly dug around in it with his fork. Finlay noticed and commented on it:

“What is up with your appetite? It’s no wonder you’re so skinny.”

Emerson looked up at him, and, feeling utterly deprived of creativity for a comeback, simply said:

“ _You’re_ skinny!”

Finlay just laughed at that.

“Wow, nice one mate!”

When they were finished eating they stacked the plates on the sofa table, not bothering to clean them right away this time. When Bear realised there were no more chances of getting food, she abandoned her spot next to Allison and walked around the table where she sat down next to Joe.

“Oh hey Bear, be good,” Emerson said. He still hadn’t been able to read how Joe felt about dogs and didn’t want him to be uncomfortable.

But it was late and Bear wasn’t bouncy anymore so she just laid her head gently down on Joe’s knees while wagging her tail. Joe started petting her affectionately on her head, and Bear closed her eyes in enjoyment. He then found the perfect spot to pet Bear behind the ear and she turned her head and leant the weight of it against his palm in order to ensure that he would keep petting her there.

“Wow Em, you need to chill with those heart eyes,” Erica said as Emerson had just been silently staring at Joe petting Bear. He couldn’t come up with a retort before he felt a hot flush in his cheeks, and Erica sent him a smug smile, and unnoticed by Emerson who was now looking at his sister, Joe had a huge smile on his lips as well. 

When Bear had had enough pets and went to lie down on her bed, Joe excused himself to go and wash his hands.

When Joe returned, Emerson’s mum was showing him a find from a record store. They only shared a music taste half the time, but his mum knew what might interest him. But even though he was occupied, he didn’t miss that Erica had sat down next to Joe. She was pretending to be drunk off her wine and told him that she was very grateful for him and Joe getting together, and that she was happy that he was happy and that Joe, he was actually a good guy. Emerson recognised it as an impression of his own drunken speech to Finlay when he had decided to express his approval of Erica and Finlay’s relationship, but he could tell that she was only pretending to be drunk, as he knew what a drunk Erica looked like, and Erica was very careful of not draping herself over Joe while talking to him, which Emerson knew she would have no inhibitions of doing if she had actually been drunk.

He realised that Joe had realised she was putting on a show too as he’d recognised the speech as an imitation of Emerson’s speech as well, and they continued a normal conversation from there.

After a while, Emerson made a move to pick up the dirty plates. His mum tried to talk him out of it, but he felt like it was the least he could do when they’d prepared the food. When he couldn’t carry everything at once, Joe quickly got up to help him.

“Everything good?” Emerson asked once they were in the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Joe replied though he did sound a bit tired.

“I was thinking about leaving once we’re finished here,” Emerson said.

“That sounds good. I mean, not because I don’t want to be here, I’m just tired,” Joe explained.

“I know. Me too.”

They came back into the living and Emerson announced that they’d be leaving. Erica and Finlay were the first to say goodbye to them, and Erica commented that it probably wouldn’t be long before they left either.

As they were saying goodbye to Emerson’s parents, Allison quietly but firmly pulled Emerson aside. Her expression was hard to read, but Emerson could tell that she was very emotional. She grabbed one of his hands and held it tightly as she spoke.

“Emerson, I just want to tell you how happy I am for you. I’ve been so sad to see what the job had done to you, and even though you tried to look like you weren’t sad and brushed off my worries, you seemed worse off every time, and it’s just been so great to see how your mood has changed lately. I know it’s partly because of Joe and if it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t seem comfortable with me hugging him, I would give him such a hug.”

“Aw thanks mum. Good thing I love your hugs and I’ll be sure to pass a hug onto him from you,” Emerson said and gave her a big hug.

He returned to Joe and his parents followed them into the hallway, as did Bear whom Emerson gave a big goodbye hug as well.

Allison and Errol waved goodbye to them as they headed out into the cool night air, a pleasant feeling. Without words, they both decided to make the journey home in a slow and relaxing pace.

“I’m glad everything went well or ended up doing so. Thanks for a great evening,” Emerson said.

“And thank you. I had a good time, and you know I was thinking. I really liked Bear. Maybe I could join you for one of those walks you were talking about?” Joe said.

Emerson nodded and grinned broadly as he put his arm around Joe’s waist and gave him a side hug as they continued on their way to Joe’s flat.

**Author's Note:**

> Hehe, I kept accidentally writing Kent, Chandler and Mansell, while writing this, out of habit.  
> Thanks so much for reading! Comments and kudos would be greatly appreciated. May you have a wonderful day! ^_^


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